A young Lane Cove local has shot for the stars by striking her target, qualifying for the World Youth Archery Championships in Canada.
Eve Whitar represented NSW at the 2025 National Youth Archery Championships at Canberra in April. The 15-year-old won gold for the 720 round competition, not only solidifying her position on the Australian team at the August global competition in Winnipeg, but also the Trans Tasman Challenge in Christchurch, New Zealand in September.
“It was out of 720 points, and I scored 668… after we finished shooting we go to get the last arrows. I had the girl who came second on the target next to me. So we knew straight away, because I beat her by that point,” Eve explained to ITC when describing her winning shots.
“We all felt very good, because this girl had been unbeatable up until now… it was quite amazing,” Eve’s proud mother, Alison, chimed in.
Eve also received a silver in the individual matchplay and finished day one of the competition with a gold as well as a new state record of 874 in the U18s Female Compound division WA60/900. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, the aforementioned is an event where athletes shoot a total of 90 arrows from 40, 50 and 60 metres for a total of 900 points.
Although her upcoming events are highly anticipated, there is one issue. Turns out, it can be quite expensive to be an international athlete.
For flights, accommodation, food, necessary backup equipment and paying support staff the total costs for attending the international competitions later this year costs over 10K. To help cover the costs, Eve and her mother have created a GoFundMe page for support.
“Obviously these events aren’t self funded, i.e., parents pay for it all. I think Archery Australia supplies the uniform for us, so we’re up for all the rest… we’ve sort of estimated that it’ll cost us around 14,000 combined. So we’re sort of just trying to cover a bit of that,” Alison said.
Archery Origins
Impressively, Eve’s interest in archery only started about three years ago after trying out a beginners course at a local club. Since then, her interest and determination rapidly grew, placing her on the Australian team at the World Youth Archery Championships.
So what does it take to become a champion you ask? Practice. Admittedly, mastering the historic sport didn’t immediately take to the young athlete, but training four times a week definitely helped.
Among hours of target practice to hone in on her accuracy, Eve also trains for strength and conditioning to achieve a steady stance.
“It’s muscle memory, so I need to shoot a lot to keep up,” she explained “when you’re out there I’m not thinking about it, training keeps it the same consistent process.”
The closest and most convenient place to train at a competitive level is at Cromer High School which has archery facilities set up. The family too have improvised a small space in their home down their hallway which according to Alison, has put “a couple holes in the wall.”
However, a few ‘decorative’ holes are a small price to pay for housing a potential world champion, and may even up the home’s historic value in time if this young achiever decides to go for gold via the Olympics. But, with HSC still on the horizon, Eve says she is still working out her priorities.
“I want to finish school and then compete more. I don’t really know what that looks like yet,” she said.
“She’s in year 10 now, the World Youth Championships are every two years, which means she’ll be doing HSC when the next one’s up,” Alison added.
GoFundMe To The Championships
In any case, whatever Eve decides to pull her focus to in the near future, representing Australia in two international competitions is a shot in the right direction.
If you’d like to see this local Lane Cove legend tear it up overseas then why not contribute what you can to the cause? You can help fund her trip at the hyperlink here.
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